The men's singles semifinals are out! The third general of National Table Tennis advanced, and Zhou Qihao narrowly defeated the dark horse and fought Wang Chuqin
On July 8, 2023, the Slovenian Table Tennis Tournament staged a wonderful competition. In the men's singles semifinals, Zhou Qihao fought hard in five sets to finally defeat French dark horse Felix 3-2 and advance to the semifinals to meet teammate Wang Chuqin. This competition can be described as a brilliant victory for National Table Tennis.
Prior to this, five players of the Chinese table tennis team successfully advanced to the men's and women's singles semifinals, and all the main players won all of them. In the women's singles, Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng and Wang Manyu each occupied three semi-final places. Among them, Sun Yingsha and Japan's Hina Hayata staged a fierce battle, Chen Meng defeated Romania's Szokos 3-1, and Wang Manyu also defeated Japan's Miyu Kihara 3-1. In the semifinals, Sun Yingsha will face Wang Manyu, and Chen Meng will face Japan's Mimato Ito.
In addition, the other two men's singles players, Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin, also won 3-0 respectively. Fan Zhendong defeated Nigeria's Aruna, and Wang Chuqin easily defeated Sweden's Moregaard. Brazil's Hugo also secured a semi-final spot.
Zhou Qihao, a national table tennis star, faced French rising star Felix in Calderano's 3-2 victory over Japan's Hayasuke Togami. In this battle, Zhou Qihao showed amazing strength and attracted widespread attention. He is good at serving and snatching, but is known as a nerve knife due to his erratic results. Zhou Qihao had successive victories over Ma Long and Fan Zhendong in the direct match, but his performance in external battles was not good and his adjustment ability was limited.
Nevertheless, Zhou Qihao showed an impressive high level of victory in a 3-2 comeback against Olympic champion Ma Long. Against Felix this time, Zhou Qihao faced more pressure, and mistakes could attract doubts. At just 16 years old, Felix is talented and has a unique straight board style, was the youngest singles champion at the European Games, and kept a clean sheet against world ninth Dakko in the last round.
The game is fierce and the two sides are equal. Felix was surprisingly fast in the first three boards of the first game, and although Zhou Qihao was fully prepared, it was still difficult to escape the struggle. Felix missed the serve and Zhou Qihao scored two consecutive points to take a 12-10 lead. However, in the second game, Zhou Qihao's form suddenly declined, unable to catch up with Felix, trailing 7-1 and eventually losing 11-6.
In the third game, Zhou Qihao fought to win the game 11-5. In the fourth game, Felix fought back tenaciously and equalized 11-8. In the tiebreaker, the two sides were locked in a stalemate, and Zhou Qihao mastered the rhythm of the game with his rich experience and tenacious perseverance, and finally narrowly defeated Felix 11-9 to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, Zhou Qihao will compete with teammate Wang Chuqin to qualify for the final. In the other semifinal, Fan Zhendong will face Brazil's Hugo. In the women's singles, the showdown between Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu will stage a national table tennis civil war, while Chen Meng will face Japan's Mimato Ito.
The Chinese table tennis team performed well in this Slovenian tournament, and five players successfully advanced to the men's and women's singles semifinals, demonstrating the strong strength of national table tennis. In the next semi-finals and finals, I believe that the Chinese team will continue to work hard to achieve better results and win glory for the country.
